ACTION FIVE: Energise the NPA

The country needs a clearer picture of what is holding the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) back. The President should as a matter of urgency appoint a retired judge to head an enquiry into the NPA. The goal should be to identify the specific causes of the NPA’s lack of performance and to recommend remedial action. The enquiry should assess the leadership, performance, structure and independence of the NPA. The NPA is the authority constitutionally mandated to institute criminal proceedings on behalf of the state. This AGENDA 2024: Priorities for South Africa’s new government report, the fifth in the series, makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the NPA. The disappointing performance of the NPA has failed to deter the spread of corruption, has created disillusion with government’s commitment to upholding justice, and has diminished state capacity. To strengthen its capacity, the NPA should enter into public-private partnerships with transparent, independent and temporary entities, which will facilitate increased cooperation between the NPA and private practitioners in prosecutions of priority corruption cases. To further speed up the process of getting major corruption cases to court, the Minister of Justice must request the Chief Justice and the Judge Presidents of the High Courts to set up special corruption courts. The GNU must significantly increase the funding available to the NPA. The Minister of Justice should immediately issue an instruction to the Department of Justice to release the full archive of the Zondo Commission to the NPA.

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